Frank Lautenberg & Doc Watson

      [Posted on NJ.com blog, August 20, 2007]

Doc Watson was the closing performer this past Friday night at the Philadelphia Folk Festival. He took the stage shortly before 11:00 and played until after midnight. Although it turned increasingly windy and chilly during those 70 minutes, very few people left until his set was over.

Most of us I suspect had heard Doc before but we knew not to take for granted this chance to
be in the presence of the 84-year old master. He was a little less sharp than he'd been when I last saw him three or four years ago, but with help from his grandson Richard and fellow
musician David Holt he was still a delight and reminded me that Guy Clark's song equating
hearing Doc Watson with seeing the Mona Lisa was not hyperbole.

As I left the concert, I started to imagine someone standing by the gate trying to sell tickets for a Doc Watson concert scheduled for four or six years from now. At that moment, I might have bought them but it would have been a gamble - similar to the gamble Frank Lautenberg will be asking of New Jersey voters should he run for reelection next year.

Rest in Peace

   

   Frank Lautenberg     January 23, 1924  -     June 3, 2013

   Doc Watson               March 3, 1923      -    May 29, 2012